preview

Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

Good Essays

Within today’s society, stereotypes are imposed based purely on looks, be it gender, race, age, or body type. Placing limitations on a person’s true value and defining who they will be before they can decide it for themselves. Though this is not a new occurrence, in fact, prejudiced decisions recur throughout history, showing itself as an integral part of all societies. Causing people to enslave innocent civilizations, start battles that did not need to be fought, and add. In the case of Jean Louise Finch or Scout, the main character from To Kill a Mockingbird, throughout the book she experienced many situations where people tried to enforce certain behaviors onto her because she was a girl. As a young lady in the 1930s, a time in which the …show more content…

It brings up the gilded lies that we tell others to make them feel better, but how can telling someone “children are cruel” make a child forget the words that have been told to them? How can they just ignore it when it follows them every day, like an ominous shadow, always there. Within this poem there are multiple stories, bringing out the different victims of the same story, it’s a prime example of how people can affect others, and how words cause more destruction than a fist ever …show more content…

She cannot see her true worth because when she looks at herself all she sees if the words that were thrown at her at school. Though body image is not something I have issues with, but I have friends who can’t see their own worth because they believe that beauty is something defined by the front of a magazine. I watch them look in the mirror and pinch at their body, wishing they were thinner because then maybe they would “beautiful.” They think they are ugly, fat, stupid, a spaz, or any other classic school ground insult, and despite having many friends who tell them otherwise, they believe those lies. They are so caught up in their negative comments they tell themselves, that they do not realize they are drowning. Everything is so muddled up in their head, they can not see the light because they are surrounded by their own walls, built up so high, not even the sun shines through. Our society has a saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” but that is so far from the truth. Sure, stones leave visible scars, but they can be treated, healed; words on the other hand, the mark they leave is so much more detrimental. For wounds left by words can not be fixed or treated, they just stay there, forever a scar. So the next time you’re going to

Get Access